title: The impact of overactive bladder on mental health, work productivity and health-related quality of life in the UK and Sweden: results from EpiLUTS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  • To examine the prevalence and burden of overactive bladder (OAB) with bother in the UK and Sweden compared to OAB without bother and no/minimal OAB/lower urinary tract (LUTS) symptoms, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  • A cross-sectional population-representative survey was conducted via the Internet in the UK, Sweden and USA. • Participants rated the frequency and bother of OAB and LUTS. Patient outcomes included the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire Short Form, Patient Perception of Bladder Condition, Short Form-12, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression, as well as questions about treatment seeking and work productivity. • OAB was defined as urgency at least sometimes or the presence of urinary urgency incontinence. Three subgroups were compared: no/minimal symptoms, OAB without bother and OAB with bother. • Analyses were conducted by gender and country using general linear and logistic regression models to examine bothersome OAB and treatment seeking.
  
  
  RESULTS
  • Survey response was 59.2%; 10,000 people (4724 men and 5276 women) participated. • The prevalence of OAB with bother at least 'somewhat' was 10.9% and 14.6% for men in the UK and Sweden, and 22.5% and 33.7% for women in the UK and Sweden, respectively. • Men and women with bothersome OAB were significantly more likely to seek treatment, report the lowest levels of health-related quality of life and work productivity and the highest levels of anxiety and depression compared to those with no/minimal symptoms and OAB without bother. • Greater symptom severity of urgency, urgency urinary incontinence, frequency, nocturia, and increasing levels of anxiety were strongly predictive of OAB bother in both men and women. • Predictors of treatment seeking included frequency, bother as a result of urgency, and lower levels of depressive symptoms in men, and frequency, nocturia and urgency in women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • OAB is common in the UK and Sweden, and women are more likely to be affected then men. • The impact of OAB is evident across generic and condition-specific domains of health-related quality of life.
authors.affiliation: United BioSource Corporation, Bethesda, MD, USA. karin.coyne@unitedbiosource.com
authors.forename: Karin S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Coyne
authors.forename: Chris C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Sexton
authors.forename: Zoe S
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.forename: Caty
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ebel-Bitoun
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Milsom
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chapple
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D004526:Efficiency; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*